


All Those Places I Got Found

by Sapphylicious



Category: KAT-TUN (Band)
Genre: Jin goes to Greece, M/M, because why not, this is still probably one of the fics I'm most proud of for some reason
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-21
Updated: 2014-01-21
Packaged: 2018-01-09 12:32:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1146022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sapphylicious/pseuds/Sapphylicious
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: meeting by accident after two years.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All Those Places I Got Found

When Jin had arrived in Greece, he thought that maybe he had made a huge mistake. It would not have been the first time. As the bus took him across the mottled terrain, all rock and scraggly trees, he had desperately missed Japan. Decrepit buildings had dotted the roadside and the bus had to stop once for a flock of sheep to cross, a chorus of bleats filling the air while Jin watched with a severe sense of displacement. 

But that was years ago. The scenery had its own charm now, perhaps because he saw the bigger picture. Jin had fallen a little bit in love with Greece and its rocky hills, the way the mountains crested upon the landscape with the skyline spread out behind. It wasn't so barren after all – tough, more like, and a bit wild. Greece was beautiful in a way, and in that way it was home, but it was time for a change. Like all the things Jin loved, he had to let it go. Call it a habit. He'd worked his last shift at the touristy café in Heraklion that morning, and was now fixing for traveling someplace new. He didn't consider returning to Japan yet. Not quite yet.

Candy clacked against his teeth as he shifted the lollipop in his mouth with his tongue. He'd finally quit smoking, traded one oral fixation for another. It had been startlingly easy once he was more-or-less settled overseas. The anonymity – the _privacy_ – the lack of stress and stalking and insane schedule might have had something to do with it.

Jin shielded his eyes from the sun overhead and looked out across the water. There was a ferry coming in from the mainland. He thought about getting on a boat to Athens, busing it to Patras and then crossing the Adriatic Sea to Venice. He'd made that trip last spring, and it had been nice. He wouldn't mind spending more time in Italy. 

He watched as the ferry came to shore and unloaded its passengers. A pair of adorable twin girls in matching watermelon-patterned sundresses held hands as they were ushered onto the dock, and they gazed up at Jin with the bluest eyes he'd ever seen. When he waved to them they shyly waved back, and their parents smiled and nodded in amicable greeting. The people here were so friendly.

At first Jin only noticed the man about to step off the boat because there weren't many Asians around here, let alone young, single, attractive ones. He didn't think much of it until the man stopped, completely froze, and stared at him. Even then all Jin could think was, _Oookay, that's a bit unusual_ , and it wasn't until he recognized the stiff set of thin shoulders and rigid posture that the shock finally hit him.

Jin stared back, lollipop tumbling from his slack mouth as Kame stood there with a bag slung over his shoulder and one hand still gripping the railing, probably weighing the pros and cons of fleeing back onto the ferry. He didn't, though. No, he would not run away, not Kame, as evidenced by that one step he took, and one turned into two, three, four... They carried him forward. Jin wondered, fleetingly, if Kame would walk right past him. He was almost more surprised when Kame stopped and leveled a cool gaze on him from behind dark sunglasses.

" _Hisashiburi._ "

It wasn't the Japanese itself that sounded strange; Jin racked up an insane phone bill making long-distance calls all the time, but he felt Kame's voice like a physical thing, a pressure against his chest and a wake-up slap across his face. He hadn't heard that voice in years. For a split-second Jin panicked: what was—how did— _why?_

Kame continued to stare at him impassively, then turned his face away by a fraction. He cleared his throat. "Sorry. I'll just—"

"You!" Jin finally managed to say, and it was all he could say. "You, you, you, you...!"

Kame's fine brows rose beneath wind-tousled bangs, and then his lips pulled in a grimace. "Jin, don't make a scene!"

_Who cares, we're not in Japan_ , Jin wanted to say, but the words died before they made it out. Kame had stepped that much closer to try and shush him and it was both too familiar and too strange, completely surreal. The body language was the same and Jin could still recognize the little signs – the way he drew in just a bit and the tightness of his expression was all embarrassment, covering, and the rushed chatter that Jin only now picked up on.

"—only for a day or so, I mean, that's all, I really didn't—"

"Want me to show you around?" The words seemed to just fall out of his mouth without cognitive permission. Jin blinked. They were near enough that he could see Kame blink back, and then irritation creased his forehead.

"Have you been listening to me at all?"

Well, no, but hey. "Old habit," Jin muttered, looking away, and just like that everything went sour. He braced himself for the biting retort, certain that even after two years Kame could still hit him where it hurt. 

It never came.

When Jin looked at Kame's face, eyes barely visible behind the shades, he caught a glimpse of something he wasn't supposed to see. It vanished immediately, was snatched and hidden away, and Kame pulled himself together with less grace than he would have two years ago. Jin wondered if it was the time or place or something else that accounted for the difference. "Habit," Kame agreed. "I guess we're still us after all."

Whatever that meant. Whatever they were. Jin pushed a hand through his hair and thought aloud, "Did you ever wish we came with a handbook? You know, like a guide?"

Kame snorted, and part of it was surprise. "Not like you would have read it if we had."

"You would have." Jin grinned. Kame would have read it from cover to cover, underlining and marking pages with color-coded tabs.

By Kame's expression, he wanted to argue but knew that he couldn't. Instead he exhaled his exasperation. "Anyway. You seem to be doing all right. I'm glad."

"Two years is a long time," Jin remarked, and he didn't mean anything by it – except he sort of did, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to open that Pandora's Box. He hurriedly added, "My offer still stands. Um, about showing you around, that is." Because that was what friends did, even if it felt like Jin was picking up the neglected, uneven weave of their friendship after letting it collect dust for years (maybe longer than two).

"Don't you—" Kame stopped himself, caught his bottom lip between his teeth for a second while he mulled it over. Jin noticed, and then he noticed his noticing with an alarmed thump within his chest. It repeated when Kame dipped his head and said aloud, wonderingly, "Why not?"

#

It wasn't working out. The busy schedule, the unimaginable lack of sleep, the infuriating lack of privacy – "It will get better," everyone had always said, "You'll get used to it," but it wasn't and Jin wasn't. Maybe it wasn't the job itself, after all so many others could manage, maybe it was just him, but a problem was still a problem and if it was his own problem then he should be the one to do something about it.

Jin tried. He did what he was supposed to do, but he also did what he wanted, and the compromise couldn't last. "He's young; it's okay," and, "It's part of his appeal; it's okay," turned into, "Akanishi, you must act more professional."

The break after KAT-TUN's debut helped. It gave him some time to recharge, so when it was time to come back he was excited again, happy again, and was ready to be _The_ Akanishi Jin again, but that reservoir of energy drained fast in this business. He couldn't exactly take a few months off whenever he felt like it.

Everyone was always saying "Bakanishi" this, or "Bakanishi" that, and maybe they were right because it took him the longest time to solve the simplest equation.

So before he was kicked out, or did something really irreparable to KAT-TUN, Jin quit.

The news generated such a fuss that he absolutely could not stay in Japan, and that royally sucked at first, but he should have expected it. Maybe he'd enjoy some leisurely travel – see the world, live out of a single suitcase, get lost in another place and time. Sure, Jin could do that.

He decided not to run away to America. Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt. Maybe he'd hit up the good old U.S. of A. later, but for now he wanted something different (but not too different – he drew the line at alarmingly high likelihoods of contracting a horrifying foreign disease and dying in a tent). So he got out a world atlas and opened it to a random page: Europe. Next he closed his eyes and pointed to a spot with his finger. The first time he landed in the middle of the Black Sea. The second time, a country with a name he couldn't even guess how to pronounce. Third time's the charm. Jin closed his eyes and twirled his finger in the air before plunking it down on... Greece. At least he thought that was Greece – it was very island-y and Greece had a lot of islands, right?

So he told everyone he was going to Greece.

#

"Are you seriously just here on vacation? Vacation, you?" Jin scuffed the toe of his sneaker on the cobblestone street they wandered down.

"Yeah." The reply was faint and distracted. Kame wasn't even looking at Jin. Instead he was staring up at the traditional architecture of the city; white buildings lined either side of the narrow road, and one wall they passed was covered in lush green creepers dotted with pale yellow blossoms. A cloudless strip of blue sky cut the view overhead.

"Come on," Jin suddenly said. He took Kame's hand – their palms fit together differently than they used to, fingers surprised to encounter one another – and he led him quickly down the street. There was resistance at first, and then it gave.

They stepped out from under the shadows of the buildings, blinking in the sunlight that filled the square and glimmered off spouts of water from the fountain. Jin felt the hand in his slip away as Kame approached the center of the plaza. He touched the circular rim of the fountain, dragging his fingertips over the rough stone and then soothing them under the trickle of cold water. When Jin drew near Kame flicked the droplets at him.

"Hey!" He reacted, overmuch, to the harmless sprinkle, cringing away with his entire body and the tips of his mouth curling up.

"You big baby." Kame grinned, and Jin was tempted to knock his sunglasses off and touch his face, mapping the familiar-but-changed landscape of his features regardless of No Trespassing signs.

But Kame turned away from him, ducking his head and rummaging around in his bag. He withdrew a camera and Jin groaned.

"You're going to be an embarrassing, geeky tourist, aren't you?"

"Who was the idiot who signed up to be my guide in the first place?" Kame replied, walking around the fountain to find the best shot. "You're a terrible guide, by the way," he added while gazing through the camera lens.

In response, Jin plunked himself down in the middle of Kame's view with his hand raised in a one-finger salute. The sound of water bubbled from behind him and Kame's laughter from the front.

"Wait. Slide a little more to the right— No, my right, your left. Okay."

Somehow it became like this, with Jin posing. It still came naturally despite the span of years between now and his last photoshoot, but as far as photoshoots went this wasn't much of one. Jin's hair was plain black, unstyled, his clothes casual. A pendant on a short chain necklace hung from his neck, but his wrists were bare except for a watch. No makeup, and he was far from immaculately groomed. 

Kame's instructions were gentle, and that took Jin by surprise. The expression showed on his face as he realized it. Kame captured the moment with a muted click.

Kame eventually got enough of Jin and the fountain. He turned next to the flowering plants that adorned the several balconies of the surrounding buildings, a colorful palette of red, yellow, and purple over rustling green. Jin's eye was drawn to the wisps of hair that tickled Kame's cheek when he looked down, and then to the graceful line of his throat when he gazed up.

Jin put his thumbs and forefingers together to make a frame, aligning Kame in the center as if to capture his image. The light click of Kame's camera was followed by a heavy echo in Jin's chest.

"What are you doing?" Kame noticed, head tilted.

"Nothing." Jin let his hands fall. "No—" he protested in vain as Kame pushed the camera at him, and he either had to take it or drop it. The device was deceptively lightweight and small as he reluctantly brought it up to face-level.

Looking at Kame through the lens hurt. Jin was aware of layer after layer, year after year of fame. It was in the way Kame acknowledged the camera and the audience beyond, even if it was only Jin, and the way something changed in his face, his figure. Jin was dismayed to feel the same old unease crawl under his skin. He snapped the picture, vaguely surprised that the image didn't come out blurry – no, it was crisp and sharp and accusing. He handed the camera back while avoiding Kame's critical gaze.

"You really are kind of a coward."

" _What?_ " The words struck just the right spark and a burn of anger raced up Jin's neck. Old habits, old patterns. "Is that what you think? That I ran away?"

"What am I supposed to think?" Kame demanded.

Jin stared. "Oh, you bastard. You— I thought—" He couldn't even articulate with the feeling of all the air being crushed out from his lungs, words getting jammed in his throat. He turned on his heel, walked off no more than five paces before an invisible thread went taut and made him pivot again. "I can't believe you're still like this!"

Kame approached, and Jin realized he did have the urge to run away at that moment. The thought made his stomach turn, and the past two years ran like a question through his mind, coming up without an answer by the time Kame drew even with him. His profile was carved, mouth set in a hard line, and Jin waited for him to twist the knife with a word or a look, but the straight silence in itself was a different kind of wound, one he thought he'd gotten used to.

#

"There are over one-thousand-four-hundred islands in Greece," Koki told him one night over a beer ("either we get punch-drunk or drunk for real, pick one"). "I challenge you to set foot on all of them."

Jin wanted to say Koki pulled that number out of his ass, but he'd looked up the same statistic, too. "Only one-hundred-sixty-nine of them are inhabited," he countered, feeling smart, and then realized he just implicitly agreed to visit a fuckton of little islands, what the fuck.

 

"We'll visit you," Nakamaru promised.

"Don't," Jin replied just to see Nakamaru's expression scrunch up in annoyance, and then he cracked a grin. He ducked his head to hide it, but not all the way.

 

"Take pictures, buy souvenirs, try all the cuisine, etcetera..." Ueda instructed methodically, ticking things off on his fingers. "Go see the Parthenon and climb Mount Olympus..."

"You guys are all so bossy," Jin complained.

Ueda lifted one shoulder in a flighty shrug. "When else will we want to live vicariously through you?"

 

When it was Taguchi's turn Jin braced himself for whatever was coming – the bad joke, the ill-timed line, aliens popping out of his head, whatever – but all Taguchi said was, "I'm glad for you."

It was just as corny as everything else that came out of his mouth, but this time Jin didn't have the heart to hit him for it. For the briefest of moments (nearly nonexistent in its brevity) he actually had the distressing impulse to hug him. Fortunately, the nanosecond of insanity passed.

 

"I'll call you," Kame said at the airport, hands thrust into his coat pockets and designer sunglasses hiding the enormous bags under his eyes. Jin didn't even know why Kame was here to see him off, but he figured it had to count for something. He knew he had to take what he could get with Kame, and it was a good rule to have, but not one he always managed to abide by.

"Sure. Take care." Even though he knew Kame wouldn't, but that wasn't his problem anymore – and maybe it never should have been.

"You, too."

The first day after his arrival Kame called him like he said he would, but Jin was too jetlagged to pick up. The voicemail Kame left was bland, professional, and not worth saving. Jin didn't call him back, and Kame didn't call again.

#

Jin had never craved a cigarette this much in his life. Or at least not since he'd quit. He bought a pack and a cheap lighter at the nearest store, and didn't feel the slightest bit of guilt as he lit up, welcoming the familiar burn of smoke. The taste of addiction was dry in his mouth.

 _Kamenashi-fucking-Kazuya_ , he thought, blistered on the inside. He was good at cauterizing his wounds, but he also couldn't help but irritate them. He was used to Kame irritating them for him.

Two years and not a word. He'd heard bits and pieces about what Kame was doing from other people – this drama, that concert, and one time Jin did a quick Internet search that only made him feel slightly weird to find out about a rumored scandal involving a high school student. He'd almost picked up his phone to call Kame and laugh about it, only to stop and wonder with his finger hovering over the keypad whether Kame was using the same number anymore. Call aborted. Not for the first time, and not for the last time. He didn't have the right to whine about Kame never contacting him, but he still wanted to.

Two damn years and the guy hadn't changed. Then again, Jin might have been more upset if he had. There was some stupid part of him that continued to insist that whatever Kame was for the adoring crowd, there was also a Kame just for Jin. That stupid, selfish part of him assumed that would still be the case two years, five years, twenty years down the road. Who was he kidding, he didn't need a guidebook. Jin knew Kame like the back of his hand.

Jin also knew the town, and Kame didn't. He pushed off from the wall he was leaning against and stubbed out his cigarette. It was only fair to inflict his presence upon Kame if he was going to show up here and rub Jin the wrong way. At the very least, Jin could gloat that he wasn't the one who ran away this time.

It didn't take long to find him. All Jin had to do was stick to the main streets and hit up the more popular tourist attractions, and eventually he found the other man coming out of a store. Kame glanced up and down the street, though he didn't notice Jin, and pulled out a travel brochure like the geeky tourist he was. When he started off in a direction, Jin snickered and followed without being seen.

Kame looked like he knew where he was going – as much as he always looked like he was in control, which actually, in a foreign country, wasn't that effective. He drew inward the slightest bit, shoulders tensed, and kept checking his map. Jin considered running up and surprising him, wondered how Kame would react. It depended on how angry he was; he would either push Jin away, or roll his eyes and sigh loudly and pretend nothing happened earlier. Jin was never quite sure when those times were forgiven or just forgotten. Kame was specific, though. The scene at the fountain was probably forgiven, but Jin leaving KAT-TUN and Japan and everything... Maybe not.

Jin lingered behind, stopped and blended as best he could with the crowd when Kame finally asked someone for directions that involved mostly pointing at the map and one or two words of English. Jin's English had gotten a little better since being here, and his modern Greek was passable – good enough to serve drinks, chill with the friends he'd made, and flirt with girls.

Jin broke into a grin when they reached their destination at last: the café he used to work at. For a moment he grasped hold of an idea, imagining the look on Kame's face if Jin was the one handing him his drink. He'd be surprised for sure... Unless he knew already. The smile faltered on Jin's face. Any number of people could have told Kame about Jin's activities, as mundane as they were. Would Kame have asked, or would he have simply been told and affected polite interest, remembering the information anyway in that obstinate manner of his?

So Jin held back again, and didn't even slip into the café to say hello to his former co-workers. He watched from the opposite side of the street, and slightly behind, where Kame sat at one of the small tables outside. He looked much more relaxed now at a resting point – a real resting point, not a five-minute break to gulp down coffee and go through a mental rundown of his schedule. His back curved in a slight slouch and his ankles were crossed under the table. He swung his bag into his lap and dove into it, and out came the camera again. He didn't aim it anywhere, though. Kame's head was bowed, peering intently at the screen, going through the pictures. He could have been deleting them, or just looking.

On impulse, Jin reached for his cell phone and lined up the view. He waited for the people in front to pass, then snapped a quick shot. From this angle, at this distance, it wasn't easy to identify the person in the picture as Kame, like in many other candid photos. Maybe the really crazy fans could always tell, but... Jin told himself he didn't fall into the same category as the fans just because he could identify Kame by the tilt of his head alone. That was different, and not weird. Well, at least not by a lot. Still, the thought made him press a key and hover his thumb over the delete option.

He didn't go through with it, though, distracted by the sudden movement across the street. Kame had jumped in his seat and was leaning over to find a scrawny orange cat butting against his leg. It was one of the many strays that could be found all over the town, and that tabby in particular liked to hang around near the café. In Jin's experience it was a temperamental thing, purring under his hand one moment and then without warning digging sharp little claws into his arm.

Kame didn't appear to suffer from that problem, reaching down to pet the cat's head and stroke along the silky-soft fur of its back, making the knobby spine arch up for his touch. Stupid lucky cat— Jin squashed the bubble of jealousy. And took another quick picture of the cat licking Kame's fingers.

After a while Kame got up and was on the move again. Jin pocketed his phone (that now stored several more pictures of Kame playing with the cat or sipping his drink) and trailed him through the crowd. They came to a bus stop, and before Jin could ponder this new dilemma Kame glanced over his shoulder and said, "You are such a stalker. A really bad one."

Jin shoved his hands in his pockets. "You knew the entire time?" For some reason the thought made him feel as though he'd been kicked.

Kame gave him a long look before saying, "Well, I'm used to it." The silence was left dangling – _I guess you aren't anymore_ – and no, after two years of anonymity, Jin wasn't, if he ever had been to begin with. There was no more need for disguises that hardly worked anyway, no reason for him to mind his every action and word in public. He could go where he wanted, when he wanted. It's what worked best for him.

The bus arrived and its doors slid open, and Kame took one step at a time without looking back, but Jin never needed an invitation. He dashed after him, almost knocking them both over in the aisle.

"Where are you going?" Jin asked once they were finally settled, and he was kind of pleased to have Kame cornered in the window seat, like Jin had reached the end of a game.

"You're the guide," Kame reminded. "You tell me."

Jin eyed Kame suspiciously. They were on a two and a half hour bus ride to Chania, another large tourist city. There was a lot to do there, and a lot of places to get to from there. "You're not thinking of hiking through the Samaria Gorge, are you?"

Kame's lips twitched. "What about it?"

" _Augh_ ," Jin said to summarize the experience, slumping back in his seat. "I know it's like, a "must do" for everyone who visits Crete, but it takes hours and it's so hot in the middle of summer and the trail ends in the worst village ever created and the next day you can't walk down stairs because your legs don't work properly. It's awful. Don't do it. Plus rocks fall and you might die and the goats—"

Kame's weight fell lightly against Jin's shoulder, shaking with laughter.

"I'm serious," Jin added with a grin. "The _kri-kri_ are kind of a big deal."

"The what?"

"The goats. They're called _kri-kri_."

Kame laughed again like it was the funniest thing in the world, helpless in his amusement, and Jin didn't get it but he didn't get a lot of things that entertained Kame. He couldn't bring himself to say any more, throat hot with the fear that he'd trip over something that shouldn't be voiced, that would make Kame shut him out again. It was an old, familiar, suffocating feeling, bearable out of habit, and then later Jin would look over at Kame asleep next to him:

He was sprawled loosely, one arm draped across his middle and the other flopped down along his side, half-curled fingers touching the seam of Jin's pants. He was as skinny as ever, and Jin made a note to introduce Kame to everything Mediterranean cuisine had to offer. He would need all the energy he could get if he really was going to hike through the Samaria Gorge, and maybe Jin would be willing to make the strenuous trip again if only to say "I told you so" the day after.

Kame shifted as the bus rumbled on, and his sunglasses were pushed askew on his face, lips parted to make a quiet, protesting sound. Jin reached over to lift the shades away and brush his thumb over the tiny crease that had appeared on Kame's forehead. He only took a small liberty, skating the pad of his finger down the bumpy arch of Kame's nose and sweeping below his eye, feeling the tickle of lashes.

Then the bus hit a pothole and Jin barely avoided jabbing Kame's eye out. Kame awoke with a squawk while Jin stammered an apology, gesturing with the sunglasses as an excuse.

#

The other time, with LA, Kame was the first person Jin told. This time he was the last, which wasn't very fair, but then what was fair anymore?

"Okay," he said that night in the car after driving home from a photoshoot.

"Is that... _Okay_ -okay, or...?" Jin tore his gaze away from the lights of the dashboard that he'd been fixating on while sharing the news.

Kame glanced towards him and his eyes were still bruised with makeup, skin powdered and pale in the dark. "Why, do you want permission or something?"

"No, I just..." He folded his arms over the wheel and pushed a hand through his hair, tugging with agitation. "You're angry, right? Everyone's angry with me."

"You were expecting happiness?"

"You know what, fuck you, I—"

"Jin, if that's what you want, then what can I, or anybody else, do?" Kame could override him so easily. "So, no, I'm not exactly going to jump for joy, but I can see—" He drew in a breath and turned his face away. "It'll be fine, okay?"

"Okay," Jin repeated, feeling not okay at all, but the news was out. Duty done.

Kame paused with his hand curled around the door handle, and his sloe-eyed gaze sought out Jin again. His tongue wet his lips before saying, "It's fine for you to do what's best for yourself. I mean, that's always worked for you. If you want out, get out."

"That's the plan," Jin muttered, irked for reasons he could not pinpoint. A moment of terse silence stretched between them, and then the car door opened and closed, leaving a pocket of cold air where Kame had been.

#

"—and then the fucking boat finally arrives so I can get the hell out of that creepy place. Oh, but during that trip, there's the funniest thing. There's this house, right, with one of those solar panels on the roof – I'm sure you've noticed those things are everywhere around here – but this building was smack in between two mountains. That place was getting _no sun_. Why bother, right?"

"That's...a bit of a waste," Kame remarked as they came to a stop at a door, and he swiped the card key to unlock the room. It took a few seconds to find the light switch inside, flicking it on to illuminate the standard hotel décor.

"I'll point it out to you tomorrow." Jin kicked off his shoes and plopped down on the nearest bed, trying not to obviously track Kame's movement around the room. It probably wasn't much use, though – something about the way Kame flicked a glance over his shoulder after pulling the curtains shut.

"Do you mind if I use the shower first?"

"Go ahead." Jin only peeked a little when Kame shucked off his shirt, enough to get a glimpse of tanned skin and the indents of his hipbones disappearing beneath the waistband of his underwear and jeans. Then the door to the bathroom closed and the sound of running water could be heard.

Jin fell back against the mattress and threw an arm across his face. God, what a day. He was completely tangled up inside, a mess from being tightly wound up one minute and then loose and relaxed the next. Dinner had gone well, though, and okay, maybe it was just a tiny bit weird but he liked watching Kame eat. It was fun to see the curious tilt of his mouth or the blank apprehension at the sight of a strange dish, and when Kame had a question Jin could provide an answer. _That_ was quite nice for his ego, having Kame listen intently to him, and then see him break into a smile or knit his brow in reaction to the food. He'd given Jin a dubious look over the dolmades, mostly because of the way Jin wanted to hand-feed him, but he acquiesced with parted lips that closed around the stuffed grape leaves and dragged over Jin's fingers.

Jin sucked in a breath and curled his hand, touching his fingers to his palm, remembering Kame's eyes narrowed in satisfaction and the tip of his tongue swiping the corners of his mouth. Kame was still such a tease, and the sound of the shower spray in the next room was so loud. Jin was embarrassed to find that was all it took to turn him on, that and the after-image of Kame's smooth back, dark hair curling at his nape.

The bed creaked as Jin rolled his weight over it, face half-pressed into the starchy blanket. He could ignore this. He could get up and take a brief walk. Or he could continue his train of thought and guiltily jerk off like an overly-hormonal teenager and Kame would murder him if he found out because _honestly._

Although the idea of Kame wet from his shower walking in on him wasn't that bad, either. While he stared in disbelief the water would drip down his collarbones and his skin would shiver slightly and maybe—

Well, there were a lot of ways to solve a problem. He pushed himself up and his feet treaded quietly across the carpet, but the door he opened did not lead into the empty hallway. Damp air invited him in and the staccato acoustics of water hitting tile filled the room.

Kame shook water from his eyes and sent Jin a look over a narrow shoulder that wasn't exactly surprised. It was hard to tell through the streams that coursed down the glass door, but the shape of his mouth seemed to be turned up and his voice echoed in light warning:

"There's not a lot of room."

Jin pulled his shirt off over his head in one fluid motion. "I don't mind if you don't." He left his clothes puddled on the floor and Kame opened the shower door for him.

Warm water rained down on them both, enclosed within the small space. Kame was the first to reach out and touch, placing the palm of his hand almost shyly against Jin's cheek. His face was tilted up and Jin dipped his head down to claim a kiss, sweeter than he thought it'd be, and with the sense that this had been hanging over them the whole time since Kame first stepped off that ferry.

"Um, Kame," Jin stuttered, stomach doing a somersault. There was a very short list of people who had that effect on him – it started with first crush, extended to his first love, and ended with the man who was nuzzling Jin's neck and kissing a line down its length.

"It's okay," Kame whispered damply, words nearly lost to the rush of water around them. His tongue lapped over the hollow of Jin's throat, making his pulse flutter in response, and again when teeth closed delicately upon the chain he wore. The tiny links prickled against his flesh when Kame tugged on it.

Jin's hands took the scenic route down Kame's body; tracing the winged outlines of his shoulder blades and following the curve of his spine that flexed beneath his touch. He laughed and pressed a kiss to Kame's temple, remembering the cat, and when Jin slid his hand firmly over Kame's arousal the man in his arms indeed let out a purr.

He still knew how Kame liked to be touched, stroking his slick flesh and dragging his thumb over the tip. Kame's breath ran hot over Jin's sensitive collarbones, nibbling with teeth and then soothing with tongue, while his fingers skimmed across muscle to tweak a brown nipple.

"Kame," Jin said again, voice lower now, and surer, and full of all the other names and words that one person could encompass. "Kazuya," the selfish part of him breathed out when Kame's hands trailed down his stomach, circling his navel playfully and then rubbing over his erection. Kame's fingers dipped under to press at the intimate area behind Jin's balls, making his back hit the wall and his toes curl.

But Kame was still the most insufferable tease, even when – especially when – he was on his knees and tonguing the prominent vein on the underside of Jin's heavy cock. He lapped at the slit, took the head in his mouth, but no further before pulling his swollen lips away and licking them, the bastard.

"Oh, I fucking hate you," Jin whined. He grabbed a handful of Kame's hair just to see the dare in his eyes and the briefly feel the edge of his smirk when Kame kissed and bit the tender inside of his thigh.

Jin was not the most patient of men to begin with. He pulled insistently, urging Kame up and bringing their mouths together hard enough to hurt, licking the moisture from Kame's lips laced with his own musky taste. The hand on the back of Kame's head became gentle, counterpoint to the tension thrumming through every inch of Jin's body. "You," he murmured by Kame's mouth. "You," and, "I," and breaths shared between them.

Kame inhaled like he was about to dive. He twisted around, all wet skin and sharp angles, and then the sloping line of his back and the smack of his palms on the glass door. He regarded Jin from over his shoulder with a half-lidded gaze and slightly-parted lips, speaking without words as Jin uncapped a small bottle of hotel conditioner.

His coated finger pressed in and was gripped by tight heat. Kame's breath hitched at the invasion, a little too fast, and he was a little too tense. Jin leaned over to swipe his tongue over the droplets of water on Kame's shoulder while his other hand slipped around the lean body to fist his cock. Kame's moan was quiet and contained.

"Come on," Jin appealed. He could be patient sometimes, moments when Kame was his to coax open because no one else was allowed. These moments Jin felt in every throbbing beat of his pulse, a steady and possessive rhythm matched by the slide of his finger in and out of Kame's body. "Let me."

Kame sent him a look from beneath wet lashes, but he was easing up little by little, accommodating the intrusion of a second digit and reaffirming the pleasure of it. The door panel rattled when he let his forehead drop against the glass, fogging the surface with his labored breaths. "Jin," he said, husky-voiced, and Jin would never admit to anyone how much that tone affected him. He was scared to admit to himself how much he wanted the man in front of him, every single inch and fiber and atom of his being, and how impossible that was, because he would always want more and Kame, like this, would let him.

He twisted his wrist and searched deeper with his fingers until Kame gasped out. "Oh," he breathed, licking pink lips, the lids of his eyes shuttered. "I forgot how good this was."

"That long since someone's fucked you?" Even as he said it Jin had to resist the urge to pull Kame against him and declare, _mine!_

Kame's chuckle was knowing, and it got under Jin's skin without being irritating. He didn't really answer, only rolled his head back and demanded, "More."

Jin stretched him with a third, quickly but carefully, pumping his fingers deep while his other hand traveled up Kame's chest and pinched a tiny nipple. Water dripped from the ends of Jin's hair to roll down Kame's back, and he admired the sight of Kame arching in pleasure, seeking more, spreading his legs in base reaction and sighing when Jin's fingers left him.

Jin was slow to squeeze more conditioner from the bottle and slick himself; he felt as raw and exposed as Kame looked.

"You're not having second thoughts now, are you?" Kame asked, goading him like he always did, although this instance was gentled by the quality of his voice, indolent with lust.

Jin passed his hand over the small of Kame's back, then gripped his hip. "No," he said, nudging with the head of his cock, pressing in and then all the air seemed to leave his lungs. "Never," he added in a breathless gasp.

Kame's hands curled into fists against the glass and jagged-edged sounds were ripped from his throat. He was so tight around Jin – God, had it truly been a while? Lost in snug heat and sensation, Jin dared to hope that no one else had been here since him. That Kame wouldn't let anyone else do this to him, make him tremble this much and want this so uncontrollably. Or maybe Jin was only describing himself.

"Jin," Kame whispered hoarsely, and then his body shivered when Jin shifted forward, lowering his head to put his mouth to Kame's flushed neck. Teeth and lips and soft suction teased a bruise to the surface, one that wouldn't have to be disguised by makeup. Somehow it surprised him how easily he could imprint himself on Kame's skin, and with such impunity. "Jin," his name was rasped, rough, " _move_."

"Demanding bastard," he said against Kame's skin, tongue curling with satisfaction over the mark, but he undulated his hips as commanded. He couldn't help if it was a natural talent, and Kame was so good (the best) when it came to matching (completing) him. Jin placed his hand over Kame's and let his eyes fall shut, his pace slow, making his own demand in a different sort of way. 

"Jin," Kame repeated in an uncommon tone, the sound of it shaken for all the right reasons.

His hot breath ghosted over Kame's nape. "You okay?"

"No," Kame admitted, lips shaping the word but barely giving it voice, as open and honest and scared as he would ever be. His hand slipped from the glass and reached back, tangling wetly in Jin's hair, tugging and turning to meet him with a hard kiss. The angle was awkward and uncertain but their mouths were forceful and unrelenting. Jin bruised himself on Kame's teeth and the ache was so familiar.

He pushed on Kame's shoulder, flattened him against the door again and tightened his hold over the groove of Kame's hip. Jin thrust into him with intent, eliciting a moan. Kame braced his forearms on the water-beaded glass and responded to him stroke for stroke. They'd always been good at this – just fucking, and not just, and pretending, too. Getting lost, too.

But there was no pretending when Kame moved with him, erratic and in some way graceful, in some way completely breathtaking with his hair sticking damp to his cheek and his eyes closed. He was found, present, solid and warm to the touch, and Jin could not get any closer but it wasn't close enough. He dropped a kiss to the reddened patch of skin on Kame's neck; he knew there were marks on the inside, too, but Jin couldn't see them and Kame was so damnably good at ignoring them. What they did with flesh was shallow in comparison, but it would have to do, and sometimes it was almost absolutely perfect.

A startled sound was wrung, echoing, from Kame's throat, and he squeezed around Jin's cock. " _Fuck_ ," Jin expressed succinctly, shuddering. He was flush against Kame, as deep as he was allowed, catching a glimpse of Kame's desirous gaze and the rare softness of his mouth— and Jin came, tightening and unwinding and taking that fall like he always did, so unquestioningly, every time.

Feet slid over the shower floor as Jin pulled Kame up against his body, languid and loose but still greedy to touch and feel the expanse of his skin, warm and wanting. He splayed his hand over Kame's stomach and let it slip down, fingers wrapping around his stiff cock. Kame's head tipped back onto Jin's shoulder, reaching to grasp onto whatever part of Jin he could find, and he rocked into Jin's hand at his own pace.

"Kame," Jin spoke, tone hushed, his lips trailing reverently along Kame's jaw line and he thought, _this, this, you_. Then Kame shifted his face sideways and swiftly kissed him, breathing half-formed words and echoes of Jin's thoughts, spilling over his fingers with a gasping cry.

_This. You._

Kame leaned against him, Jin's arm slung around his waist, and thank God the shower stall was so small – all Jin had to do was let his back hit the opposite wall and rest there, the water and warmth enveloping them. Wash, rinse, repeat; this, them. Bringing the old and the new. Nothing else quite like, and Jin wouldn't change a thing. Kame sighed with contentment, and the sound of it was lifted by damp heat.

#

Morning crept upon him strangely still and cold. Jin woke in the dim half-light of dawn, eyes adjusting fuzzily to the room swathed in lavender hues and darker shadow. He became aware of quiet movement behind him and huffed out a breath. The sounds stopped. Jin felt the mattress dip with Kame's weight, settling near his back but not touching.

"Jin?"

Jin reached blindly with his arm, fingers finding the rough denim of Kame's jeans and then the loose hem of his shirt. He fisted his hand in the material and tugged, clumsily from this angle, but Kame relented and shifted closer until he was stretched along Jin's back.

"Why are you dressed already?" Jin mumbled, lashes low and throwing a screen across his vision. He wanted to roll and pull Kame on top of him, warm and comfortable in a heap until the sun shone from its highest point and then they could laze about in the daylight like cats.

Kame slipped his arm around Jin's waist and wordlessly brushed a kiss over his nape, but his thin body was tense. He really was all dressed and ready, the solid toe of his shoe felt by the back of Jin's heel. Jin grabbed Kame's hand on impulse, a thought surfacing, born of familiarity: _He wouldn't. But he would._

"Kame?" He meant it as a question, but accusation bled into his tone. He felt Kame pull away from him, not physically so much as with a few well-placed words.

"Yeah. I'm going." His voice sounded scratchy, and he smelled faintly of smoke. An answering itch of addiction crawled to life under Jin's skin. 

"That's...soon." This early in the morning Jin was vulnerable, the disappointment washing over the bitterness. When Kame started to slide away Jin tightened his grip on his hand, interlocking their fingers stubbornly. He only let go of things when he was ready.

Kame's sigh seemed to travel through him, and his breath tickled the back of Jin's neck. "I wasn't planning to stay long."

"You never said."

"I did. You weren't listening."

Jin wondered how he always ended up feeling like such a fool around Kame. And why Kame let him. "Okay," he said, not quite an apology because they were both characteristically unapologetic.

"Listen to me this time," Kame said into the crook of Jin's neck, hiding his face there. "I didn't plan... I just thought, for a couple days, I'd see Greece. I mean. Two years. I just wanted to see."

"You found me."

"I wasn't looking for you."

_You were. You were, you were._ Kame used to be a better liar than this, or maybe Jin used to be more gullible.

"It's nice here. I'm glad for you – really, I am. I guess I just wanted to tell you that and I— It's good that we met."

_I've always been glad that we met, all the way back then._ But Jin said nothing and kept listening, afraid that if he spoke then Kame would stop and he wasn't ready for Kame to stop.

Of course, Kame stopped. 

"I have to go."

Jin tried to turn around in Kame's arms, but was resisted. Kame was curled and wrapped around him so tightly for a moment it was like he was going to stay. Jin couldn't see him but he could feel him, the wisps of his hair and the creases of his palm and the gentle thud of his heart, once, twice, thrice. Kame's hushed voice by his ear:

_"I'm glad, but, I don't want to hold you back."_

Jin wasn't sure how Kame slipped from him so easily, but they must have had it down to an art by now. Kame's presence left him, leaving a lingering warmth and that smoky scent. The bed springs quivered with the lifting of weight. Jin breathed in to the sound of rustling, and out to the quiet tread of feet—

"See you."

—and the click of the door.

The light in the room was becoming a paler shade with the encroaching sun and Jin stared at the wall, at the gilded edges of the covered window. His throat had closed around _goodbye_ and his thoughts had closed on, _but I didn't want to hold_ you _back, either._

#

It was raining when the plane landed in Narita Airport. The heavy gray clouds and the drops of water speckling the window were an odd welcome compared to the weeks of dry summer in Crete. The sounds, too – Jin hadn't realized how much he'd missed hearing his native language all around, and to be able to communicate without the aid of charades and a mishmash of English and Greek.

He'd winced when the first person recognized him, recalling instantly how it had been when he returned from LA, and two years wasn't enough to erase all of the years before. But it helped; it's not like there was a phenomenal media fuss, and frankly most young girls had shifted their focus onto the next Big Thing.

Still, as he came to the terminal Jin had the feeling that he'd recover his stalker radar very quickly. There was indeed a crowd waiting, and a few cameras. He ignored the shouts and flashes (like a professional), but wondered briefly how the hell these people still managed to get their information. As far as he knew there hadn't been an announcement about his return.

The likely reason for the crowd waited for Jin up ahead, hands hidden in pockets and expensive shades covering his eyes, just like the day Jin had left. He was smiling this time, though.

Jin drew up to him and grinned back, a little awkwardly. " _Tadaima_ ," he sing-songed in a quiet tone that was barely audible over the noise.

He tensed when Kame stepped forward and hugged him, acutely aware of the wall of shrieking fans, the cameras filming. Then Kame's arm was around his shoulders and he was leading Jin towards the exit, choked with people as it was, with a conspiring whisper in Jin's ear: " _Okaeri._ "

His lips curved in a gentler smile, and a burst of inspiration came to him. Jin looped his arm around Kame's waist, and that was all the warning he gave before neatly snatching the sunglasses off Kame's face (it was raining, what did he need them for anyway) and flinging them purposefully into the crowd they way they used to do with things at concerts.

He tightened his grip on Kame and made a run for the doors in the confusion.

"What the _fuck_ , Jin!" Kame's weight bumped into him, laughing breathlessly and incredulous. The drizzle outside misted his hair and skin, collecting wetly on his lashes. His eyes were squinting and his grin stretched wide.

Jin had no idea what he was doing, but, "Are they chasing us? Ditch your jacket, I'll do mine next."

"You're not in Japan for five minutes and already you're fixing for a scandal?"

"What kind of homecoming would this be without one?" He pushed his damp hair back and decided it didn't matter. His name on the news channels, his picture in the tabloids, the paparazzi tracking him around like bloodhounds – it didn't matter.

" _Bakanishi_ ," Kame called him with exasperation and affection both, and he slung his arm around Jin's neck. He found him underneath it all, and held.


End file.
